28th & 29th April
Taking advantage of a fine morning, we made an early start, and were on our way by eight. It wasn't as early as some, though; the evening before we'd had a chat with Jean and Reg Ferguson who had tied Braidbar number 60, Smudge, behind us, but they were gone by the time we got up.
We were later told by Anne and Dave from Verulam that they'd locked down at 6.30. Our own locking was enlivened by a flock of parrots crossing above us – they are becoming ever more common in and around London.
Steady boating brought us to Cowley Lock, the last one we'll work for a bit, by 9.30. We stopped to do a pump out, using the rewired pump. It did indeed work faster, and I think cleared more of the tank, although not down far enough to bring on the green light on the gauge.
Just after we'd finished and started towards the lock, Verulam appeared and stopped to water and dump Elsan. We waited for them in the lock, since there was no one else coming up. The water tap is quite slow at Cowley, so after a bit they abandoned the attempt and came to share with us. They planned to water at Bulls Bridge instead.
Unfortunately when we got there, the moorings (admittedly there's not much of them) were pretty full, including the ones by the tap. We both managed to tie against the wall which is the extreme northern end of the mooring, so that we could get our shopping, but this left Verulam still looking for water. They are going onto the Thames, so hoped to find another water point at Brentford.
After lunch we considered our options – the forecast for yesterday could be summed up as "If you think it's wet today, wait until you see tomorrow", so we decided to press on to Kensal Green, and spend today sitting tight there.
Being urban canal, you have to show a bit of caution in choosing your overnight mooring if you want a decent night's sleep – there are a number of points along the Paddington Arm that are fine. It's a case of noting where the other boats tie, and Kensal Green is one of the prime sites. Admittedly you are opposite one of London's biggest cemeteries, and Old Oak Common rail sidings are not far away, but hey, you can't have everything.
On our way along the Arm, we saw a load more parrots – green ones, mixing it with the pigeons, and there were some early Canada goslings about as well.
As we got to Kensal Green, the rain started up again, but not too fiercely, and we were soon snug on a mooring, with a Sainsbury's just five minutes walk away.
This morning was indeed extremely wet. We made a leisurely start, for me slightly marred by the fact that, when I got up to make a cup of tea and light the fire, I discovered that we'd forgotten to switch over from the short cruising chimney to the tall one, and in the pouring rain, the fire wouldn't draw. Nothing for it, I had to hop out onto the well deck in pj's and dressing gown to swap them over.
We've had a pretty leisurely day altogether. The rain has eased off quite a bit, and we're hoping that things will show the promised slow improvement as the week goes on, until we have a decent amount of sun at the weekend for the event itself.
Whatever else, it is definitely warmer, so we've done the half yearly switch of clothes. As always, some stuff which got put away last Autumn was deemed unnecessary and will be dropped in the recycling bin tomorrow, and we've decided to dump some of the stuff we got out for the winter which hasn't been worn in six months.
After lunch we took advantage of a break in the weather (it's really very pleasant when the sun is out) to go across the canal to explore the cemetery. Karl Marx is buried there, but we didn't have the stamina to find his tomb –it must be down at the far end from the entrance near Ladbroke Grove that we used.
Tomorrow we'll make an early start (probably), get a last shop at the canalside Sainsbury's here, then go round to Little Venice to join the fun of getting ready for Cavalcade. I'll try to stick with the alternate day schedule for this blog, but don't be surprised if the entries become a little terse!
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Sunday, 27 April 2008
A weekend at Denham
26th & 27th April
The night before last we had a very good meal at the White Bear with John and Nev– it's another short, basic menu, but the food came quickly and was well cooked and presented. There were particularly good hand cut chips. The atmosphere in the pub was best described as robust, especially when we first went in at around six, and both bars were pretty full of construction site workers.
By the time we left, around eight, it had calmed down a bit, and it was possible to imagine standing at the bar with your maiden aunt without cringing.
Back at the boat afterwards we spent a bit of time planning our route back from London to Crick. John and Nev will be heading the other way in Waimaru, and it looks as if we'll cross around Berko on Tuesday the 13th.
This means that if our luck holds, the Incite boats will be heading back up the next day, and we'll have another chance to share locks back to Leighton with the delightful, determined and demonstrative but daunting Davinia.
Yesterday we were up in good time and crossed to the Tesco moorings at eight o'clock, only to discover that the store opens at 6 am during the week, so we needn't have hung around.
We were able to do a quick shop, nonetheless, and at 8.30 we were heading South once more, in glorious sunshine, getting ever warmer as the day went on. As might be expected, this had brought out a lot of weekenders, especially heading up, so we had most of the locks with us.
We stopped for water below Copper Mill Lock, and ran a washload as we did so. By lunchtime we'd got to Denham and moored on the long length of very quiet visitor moorings above the lock, alongside the very pleasant Country Park. By now it was so warm that Sheila had unzipped her zip offs and was going round in shorts. If this keeps up we'll have to do a clothes sort before we get to Cavalcade, in order to have a supply of T-shirts and shorts for the weekend.
After lunch we wandered around the canal – there's a towpath on both sides here, from bridge 182 to Denham Deep Lock, making a gentle circular stroll. Below the lock we found Verulam moored, and spent a pleasant couple of hours in her saloon, nattering to Dave and Anne. They preferred to moor below to get away from the electricity transmission towers and lines which cross the canal above. The price they pay for that is to be in earshot of the A40, which crosses some little distance below.
Today the weather broke for a bit. Before it did, I set off to get a paper from Denham village, got totally lost trying an alternative path through the Country Park, and ended up the wrong side of the A40 in New Denham, which isn't the same place at all. All in all, it must have taken me about an hour and a half, most of it plodding along, to get a copy of the Independent on Sunday.
I managed to get back to Sanity (after the A40, how right that sounds) before the rain started, which was just as well, as it fairly tipped it down for a while. It's still warm, however, so it still feels Spring-like, even in the rain. The real downside is that a load of pollen and bits has washed off the tree next to us all over the roof and the newly washed side. Hey ho.
This afternoon we used the battery charging engine run to do another washload, and changed the bed, so there's yet more washing waiting to be done. I also cut Sheila's hair again – each time I'm a little better pleased with the result. At this rate I'll be getting quite competent just before the age related hand tremor kicks in...
Tomorrow we're setting off again, perhaps just as far as Cowley Lock, perhaps round onto the Paddington Arm and on to Kensal Green – we'll see how we feel.
The night before last we had a very good meal at the White Bear with John and Nev– it's another short, basic menu, but the food came quickly and was well cooked and presented. There were particularly good hand cut chips. The atmosphere in the pub was best described as robust, especially when we first went in at around six, and both bars were pretty full of construction site workers.
By the time we left, around eight, it had calmed down a bit, and it was possible to imagine standing at the bar with your maiden aunt without cringing.
Back at the boat afterwards we spent a bit of time planning our route back from London to Crick. John and Nev will be heading the other way in Waimaru, and it looks as if we'll cross around Berko on Tuesday the 13th.
This means that if our luck holds, the Incite boats will be heading back up the next day, and we'll have another chance to share locks back to Leighton with the delightful, determined and demonstrative but daunting Davinia.
Yesterday we were up in good time and crossed to the Tesco moorings at eight o'clock, only to discover that the store opens at 6 am during the week, so we needn't have hung around.
We were able to do a quick shop, nonetheless, and at 8.30 we were heading South once more, in glorious sunshine, getting ever warmer as the day went on. As might be expected, this had brought out a lot of weekenders, especially heading up, so we had most of the locks with us.
We stopped for water below Copper Mill Lock, and ran a washload as we did so. By lunchtime we'd got to Denham and moored on the long length of very quiet visitor moorings above the lock, alongside the very pleasant Country Park. By now it was so warm that Sheila had unzipped her zip offs and was going round in shorts. If this keeps up we'll have to do a clothes sort before we get to Cavalcade, in order to have a supply of T-shirts and shorts for the weekend.
After lunch we wandered around the canal – there's a towpath on both sides here, from bridge 182 to Denham Deep Lock, making a gentle circular stroll. Below the lock we found Verulam moored, and spent a pleasant couple of hours in her saloon, nattering to Dave and Anne. They preferred to moor below to get away from the electricity transmission towers and lines which cross the canal above. The price they pay for that is to be in earshot of the A40, which crosses some little distance below.
Today the weather broke for a bit. Before it did, I set off to get a paper from Denham village, got totally lost trying an alternative path through the Country Park, and ended up the wrong side of the A40 in New Denham, which isn't the same place at all. All in all, it must have taken me about an hour and a half, most of it plodding along, to get a copy of the Independent on Sunday.
I managed to get back to Sanity (after the A40, how right that sounds) before the rain started, which was just as well, as it fairly tipped it down for a while. It's still warm, however, so it still feels Spring-like, even in the rain. The real downside is that a load of pollen and bits has washed off the tree next to us all over the roof and the newly washed side. Hey ho.
This afternoon we used the battery charging engine run to do another washload, and changed the bed, so there's yet more washing waiting to be done. I also cut Sheila's hair again – each time I'm a little better pleased with the result. At this rate I'll be getting quite competent just before the age related hand tremor kicks in...
Tomorrow we're setting off again, perhaps just as far as Cowley Lock, perhaps round onto the Paddington Arm and on to Kensal Green – we'll see how we feel.
Labels:
Denham,
Rickmansworth
Friday, 25 April 2008
With Verulam to Ricky
24th & 25th April
It was a wet morning from the outset, which at least saved the problem of deciding whether to put on the waterproof trousers before the boots. There's nothing more irritating than getting all booted up and then realising that it's going to rain and having to take them off again to put the trousers on. No, I tell a lie, it's more irritating to get to that point, decide not to bother taking the boots off, start putting on the trousers, get stuck, half fall over, pull the trousers off, and then have to take the boots off.
Actually that whole preceding paragraph is cobblers: in a world which contains Sally Ash, BW's "Head of Boating Development" (aka the Department of Stupid Ideas – think moorings auctions), there are many things more irritating than having to take your boots off again, but the boaters among you will know what I mean.
We spent a further four hours in company with Verulam yesterday, travelling from King's Langley to Rickmansworth in that time. The weather cleared up for quite a while, and it was a brilliant Spring morning, but just as we got into Ricky the wind blew and huge hailstones began to descend on our heads. High spot of the trip was a notice in the garden of some apartments "This garden is for flat residents only", leaving you wondering what the round ones are supposed to do for recreation.
There was plenty of room on the moorings by the Aquadrome, so we tied quickly and shot inside the boats to get lunch. These are some of our favourite moorings on this stretch. Ricky has a good range of shops, and there's a Tesco on the offside with its own mooring length. There's even a big recycling centre right by the canal, so we could offload all the accumulated oil, glass, paper, cans, cardboard and plastic bottles.
In the town we found a Boots to get some tubigrip – the tendons in my right thumb have been complaining for a few days now, and all the locking hasn't helped of course, so a bit of support bandage around it was very welcome. We also found a good range of books in the Oxfam shop, and spent around ten quid. Charity shops are our local library – buy a book for a couple of pounds, read it once or twice over the space of a month and then drop it off into another shop.
Today we are sitting tight. We did a Tesco shop, and washed the starboard side of the boat properly, using Autoglym detergent, rinsing it off and drying it. When my thumb's recovered a bit more, we'll be able to start cleaning the brass on that side, and hopefully lacquering it with Incralac – it's the side that didn't get done last year.
After lunch we set out to clean the inside properly, taking a break when Dave Ballinger showed up. He works in Ricky, and had looked for us yesterday, but must have come while we were in town. He and his wife have an order in for a Braidbar in 15 months' time, so we had a good natter about the joys of boat design.
Then we got on and finished the cleaning, and sat down and relaxed for a bit whilst running the engine and doing a washload: which brings me to a salutary point about engines. Over the last month or so, I've been wondering with increasing anxiety why the engine was sounding so noisy. Clambered all over it, listened to the bell housing with a screwdriver as a stethoscope, checked the mountings, all to no avail. After changing the oil the other day, it's been much better.
Moral – don't save money buying cheap engine oil from small back street shops, but stick to the reputable stuff. As the old naval artificer said "Oil is cheap; engines are expensive" and it's still true even when paying £15+ for 5 litres of it.
John and Nev are coming to see us again tonight, and we're going out for a meal, probably to the White Bear. We're told its new management are doing a good job, so I'll report back next time. Tomorrow we go on to Denham, mooring above the Deep lock for a couple of nights before making the final run into darkest central London. With luck we'll see Dave and Ann on Verulam at Denham, as they set off to go there today, planning to spend the weekend at that spot.
It was a wet morning from the outset, which at least saved the problem of deciding whether to put on the waterproof trousers before the boots. There's nothing more irritating than getting all booted up and then realising that it's going to rain and having to take them off again to put the trousers on. No, I tell a lie, it's more irritating to get to that point, decide not to bother taking the boots off, start putting on the trousers, get stuck, half fall over, pull the trousers off, and then have to take the boots off.
Actually that whole preceding paragraph is cobblers: in a world which contains Sally Ash, BW's "Head of Boating Development" (aka the Department of Stupid Ideas – think moorings auctions), there are many things more irritating than having to take your boots off again, but the boaters among you will know what I mean.
We spent a further four hours in company with Verulam yesterday, travelling from King's Langley to Rickmansworth in that time. The weather cleared up for quite a while, and it was a brilliant Spring morning, but just as we got into Ricky the wind blew and huge hailstones began to descend on our heads. High spot of the trip was a notice in the garden of some apartments "This garden is for flat residents only", leaving you wondering what the round ones are supposed to do for recreation.
There was plenty of room on the moorings by the Aquadrome, so we tied quickly and shot inside the boats to get lunch. These are some of our favourite moorings on this stretch. Ricky has a good range of shops, and there's a Tesco on the offside with its own mooring length. There's even a big recycling centre right by the canal, so we could offload all the accumulated oil, glass, paper, cans, cardboard and plastic bottles.
In the town we found a Boots to get some tubigrip – the tendons in my right thumb have been complaining for a few days now, and all the locking hasn't helped of course, so a bit of support bandage around it was very welcome. We also found a good range of books in the Oxfam shop, and spent around ten quid. Charity shops are our local library – buy a book for a couple of pounds, read it once or twice over the space of a month and then drop it off into another shop.
Today we are sitting tight. We did a Tesco shop, and washed the starboard side of the boat properly, using Autoglym detergent, rinsing it off and drying it. When my thumb's recovered a bit more, we'll be able to start cleaning the brass on that side, and hopefully lacquering it with Incralac – it's the side that didn't get done last year.
After lunch we set out to clean the inside properly, taking a break when Dave Ballinger showed up. He works in Ricky, and had looked for us yesterday, but must have come while we were in town. He and his wife have an order in for a Braidbar in 15 months' time, so we had a good natter about the joys of boat design.
Then we got on and finished the cleaning, and sat down and relaxed for a bit whilst running the engine and doing a washload: which brings me to a salutary point about engines. Over the last month or so, I've been wondering with increasing anxiety why the engine was sounding so noisy. Clambered all over it, listened to the bell housing with a screwdriver as a stethoscope, checked the mountings, all to no avail. After changing the oil the other day, it's been much better.
Moral – don't save money buying cheap engine oil from small back street shops, but stick to the reputable stuff. As the old naval artificer said "Oil is cheap; engines are expensive" and it's still true even when paying £15+ for 5 litres of it.
John and Nev are coming to see us again tonight, and we're going out for a meal, probably to the White Bear. We're told its new management are doing a good job, so I'll report back next time. Tomorrow we go on to Denham, mooring above the Deep lock for a couple of nights before making the final run into darkest central London. With luck we'll see Dave and Ann on Verulam at Denham, as they set off to go there today, planning to spend the weekend at that spot.
Labels:
Rickmansworth
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Highly efficient (and enjoyable) boating
22nd & 23rd April
With a good bit of boating to do, we set off at eight, despite getting to bed fairly late the night before. No regrets, we'd had a great evening with John and Nev, but it did mean we missed our usual bedtime. We were on our own for the first few locks, but then a familiar boat was seen rising in the lock behind; yes, it was Davinia in Supreme again, with a different selection of crew.
We waited for them in the next lock, and after that things zoomed on once more. Our passage through Tring cutting was enlivened by the closest sight ever of a kingfisher – it stayed sitting on a branch over the water whilst we went past near enough to touch it. We hung around a bit at the top of Cowroast, whilst Supreme watered, then down we all went, with the enthusiastic crew charging ahead to work the locks. I don't know what motivational techniques Incite use, but by Jove they work.
On arrival at Berkhamsted, the Incite boats went onto the new water point, whilst we found a space in the very busy moorings near Waitrose. It was just in time for a late lunch. When I turned off the engine, I found that the tacho showed 5399.5 hours, a bit of a hint to do the 5400 hours oil change.
That gave me something to do for the first part of the afternoon, after which we had a cup of tea and went round Waitrose, not so much because we were short of stuff, having done the big shop at Leighton Buzzard, but because it was a chance to get some different bits and pieces.
All in all, what with a very fine end to the day and everything, it had been a magic day's boating.
Today the weather wasn't so good, in fact it was persisting down, but not cold, and there was little wind. Yesterday we'd chatted to Dave and Ann on Verulam, who had kindly given way to the Incite flotilla above a lock yesterday, then arrived at Berko a bit later. They'd expressed interest in sharing with us today, so when we went onto the water point at around a quarter to nine, they started getting ready to move and went into the next lock as we were finishing filling the tank.
We had another excellent day's boating. Sheila got the bike out and lockwheeled ahead, I steered and Dave and Ann worked Verulam alongside us. It was one of those sessions where everything comes together. By lunch we were at the water point and lock at Apsley/Hemel Hempstead, where Verulam filled her tank and we made ourselves some sandwiches. Ann also nipped into Sainsbury's (which is right by the canal here) to get some essential supplies for Dave that can't be got elsewhere (well, that's what they said – the stuff came in a box about the size of 6 75cl bottles, and clinked).
Pressing on, we got to King's Langley by three. The mooring here is a bit pot luck. There's some above King's Langley lock, but it's right next to an overnight freight depot, complete with Tannoy system. Between King's Langley and the next lock, Home Park, the towpath side is mostly shallow. Below Home Park, there's a good bit of Armco piling with decent depth, but you are almost under the M25.
As luck would have it, we found one useable length between the locks, so Verulam moored on that (they're 70 foot long and have dogs) and we tied outside them. Fortunately, the canal is very wide here.
The weather is once more fine – as I write, Sheila is sat out on the bow doing her crochet. Tomorrow, we go on down to Rickmansworth, where we'll probably stay for a couple of days by the Aquadrome.
With a good bit of boating to do, we set off at eight, despite getting to bed fairly late the night before. No regrets, we'd had a great evening with John and Nev, but it did mean we missed our usual bedtime. We were on our own for the first few locks, but then a familiar boat was seen rising in the lock behind; yes, it was Davinia in Supreme again, with a different selection of crew.
We waited for them in the next lock, and after that things zoomed on once more. Our passage through Tring cutting was enlivened by the closest sight ever of a kingfisher – it stayed sitting on a branch over the water whilst we went past near enough to touch it. We hung around a bit at the top of Cowroast, whilst Supreme watered, then down we all went, with the enthusiastic crew charging ahead to work the locks. I don't know what motivational techniques Incite use, but by Jove they work.
On arrival at Berkhamsted, the Incite boats went onto the new water point, whilst we found a space in the very busy moorings near Waitrose. It was just in time for a late lunch. When I turned off the engine, I found that the tacho showed 5399.5 hours, a bit of a hint to do the 5400 hours oil change.
That gave me something to do for the first part of the afternoon, after which we had a cup of tea and went round Waitrose, not so much because we were short of stuff, having done the big shop at Leighton Buzzard, but because it was a chance to get some different bits and pieces.
All in all, what with a very fine end to the day and everything, it had been a magic day's boating.
Today the weather wasn't so good, in fact it was persisting down, but not cold, and there was little wind. Yesterday we'd chatted to Dave and Ann on Verulam, who had kindly given way to the Incite flotilla above a lock yesterday, then arrived at Berko a bit later. They'd expressed interest in sharing with us today, so when we went onto the water point at around a quarter to nine, they started getting ready to move and went into the next lock as we were finishing filling the tank.
We had another excellent day's boating. Sheila got the bike out and lockwheeled ahead, I steered and Dave and Ann worked Verulam alongside us. It was one of those sessions where everything comes together. By lunch we were at the water point and lock at Apsley/Hemel Hempstead, where Verulam filled her tank and we made ourselves some sandwiches. Ann also nipped into Sainsbury's (which is right by the canal here) to get some essential supplies for Dave that can't be got elsewhere (well, that's what they said – the stuff came in a box about the size of 6 75cl bottles, and clinked).
Pressing on, we got to King's Langley by three. The mooring here is a bit pot luck. There's some above King's Langley lock, but it's right next to an overnight freight depot, complete with Tannoy system. Between King's Langley and the next lock, Home Park, the towpath side is mostly shallow. Below Home Park, there's a good bit of Armco piling with decent depth, but you are almost under the M25.
As luck would have it, we found one useable length between the locks, so Verulam moored on that (they're 70 foot long and have dogs) and we tied outside them. Fortunately, the canal is very wide here.
The weather is once more fine – as I write, Sheila is sat out on the bow doing her crochet. Tomorrow, we go on down to Rickmansworth, where we'll probably stay for a couple of days by the Aquadrome.
Labels:
Berkhamsted,
Hemel Hempsted,
King's Langley
Monday, 21 April 2008
Campbells all over the place
20th & 21st April
Although we'd found space on the 48 hr moorings at Campbell Park without any bother, the towpath opposite and for some distance in either direction was full of boats, many of whom were about the last time we were here last summer. It looks like this length is badly in need of both a moorings warden and a zealous towpath patrol officer. The irony is that BW's SE office is in Milton Keynes.
We got away in good time, and were on the water point at Fenny Stratford by 9.45. When we got to Stoke Hammond lock, it was full, and a boat had just appeared in the other direction, so I opened up for her, and helped lock down, as it was single handed. Virtue was rewarded by the appearance of a Wyvern boat going our way, so we were able to share both Stoke Hammond and the Soulbury Three with Crystal.
On we went along the Jackdaw Pound, planning to moor by the Globe Inn for the night, just short of Leighton Buzzard. Just a bit before we got there, however, we came across Fair Fa', the boat of our friends from the IWA National, Sheila and Pat Campbell. We tied by them, and had a quick chat before getting a belated lunch.
A leisurely afternoon followed, at the end of which we were invited onto Fair Fa' for a pre dinner drink. As a result, our dinner was actually quite late, but it was well worth it to have the opportunity to catch up with Pat and Sheila.
This morning we were away just a little bit later, getting to the shopping mooring at Leighton Buzzard by half nine. This is one of the most convenient places to shop, as the Tesco is right beside the towpath, and there's a set of two hour moorings for the convenience of the shopping boats.
There's also an Aldi and a Homebase, as well as a range of smaller shops in the town. A little while ago, Elanor had gone out of her way to get us some replacement bow saw blades, eventually finding then in Wickes. They are excellent blades, but they exposed a fault in our el cheapo bow saw, in that the frame is actually a bit short, so that the blade cannot be tensioned properly. Accordingly, we went in to Homebase today and got a much better saw, with a good range of adjustment. The old saw will probably be presented to London WRG at Cavalcade, with appropriate warning, as they will be in a much better position to source blades to fit.
After putting the stuff away, we went on, grabbing a coffee en route. There were no other boats going our way, so progress was quite slow, as locking a single boat up a wide lock requires a degree of patience if it's not to be chucked about by the flow of water filling the lock.
Finally we needed a break, so stopped for lunch above Horton Lock. As we were nearly finished, we heard and felt a boat locking up behind us. It proved to be another Wyvern, on its own, so we scrambled back into boating mode and set off behind them.
Sharing up the first Ivinghoe Lock, it turned out to be the lead boat of three being used by Incite as a team building exercise. We shared with them up the remainder of the locks we had to do today, as they were aiming for Marsworth as well. We were both admiring of and entertained by Davinia, who was able skilfully to instruct her group of novices, chat to us and keep tabs on everything else around her.
Mooring at Marsworth was frantic – there's very little short term mooring, most of the visitor mooring being 14 day, which has the effect of encouraging the bridge hoppers. We were lucky to find a space just by the White Lion, as we've just been joined by Nev and John Campbell for dinner tonight – it's a case of one set of Campbells after another.
Although we'd found space on the 48 hr moorings at Campbell Park without any bother, the towpath opposite and for some distance in either direction was full of boats, many of whom were about the last time we were here last summer. It looks like this length is badly in need of both a moorings warden and a zealous towpath patrol officer. The irony is that BW's SE office is in Milton Keynes.
We got away in good time, and were on the water point at Fenny Stratford by 9.45. When we got to Stoke Hammond lock, it was full, and a boat had just appeared in the other direction, so I opened up for her, and helped lock down, as it was single handed. Virtue was rewarded by the appearance of a Wyvern boat going our way, so we were able to share both Stoke Hammond and the Soulbury Three with Crystal.
On we went along the Jackdaw Pound, planning to moor by the Globe Inn for the night, just short of Leighton Buzzard. Just a bit before we got there, however, we came across Fair Fa', the boat of our friends from the IWA National, Sheila and Pat Campbell. We tied by them, and had a quick chat before getting a belated lunch.
A leisurely afternoon followed, at the end of which we were invited onto Fair Fa' for a pre dinner drink. As a result, our dinner was actually quite late, but it was well worth it to have the opportunity to catch up with Pat and Sheila.
This morning we were away just a little bit later, getting to the shopping mooring at Leighton Buzzard by half nine. This is one of the most convenient places to shop, as the Tesco is right beside the towpath, and there's a set of two hour moorings for the convenience of the shopping boats.
There's also an Aldi and a Homebase, as well as a range of smaller shops in the town. A little while ago, Elanor had gone out of her way to get us some replacement bow saw blades, eventually finding then in Wickes. They are excellent blades, but they exposed a fault in our el cheapo bow saw, in that the frame is actually a bit short, so that the blade cannot be tensioned properly. Accordingly, we went in to Homebase today and got a much better saw, with a good range of adjustment. The old saw will probably be presented to London WRG at Cavalcade, with appropriate warning, as they will be in a much better position to source blades to fit.
After putting the stuff away, we went on, grabbing a coffee en route. There were no other boats going our way, so progress was quite slow, as locking a single boat up a wide lock requires a degree of patience if it's not to be chucked about by the flow of water filling the lock.
Finally we needed a break, so stopped for lunch above Horton Lock. As we were nearly finished, we heard and felt a boat locking up behind us. It proved to be another Wyvern, on its own, so we scrambled back into boating mode and set off behind them.
Sharing up the first Ivinghoe Lock, it turned out to be the lead boat of three being used by Incite as a team building exercise. We shared with them up the remainder of the locks we had to do today, as they were aiming for Marsworth as well. We were both admiring of and entertained by Davinia, who was able skilfully to instruct her group of novices, chat to us and keep tabs on everything else around her.
Mooring at Marsworth was frantic – there's very little short term mooring, most of the visitor mooring being 14 day, which has the effect of encouraging the bridge hoppers. We were lucky to find a space just by the White Lion, as we've just been joined by Nev and John Campbell for dinner tonight – it's a case of one set of Campbells after another.
Labels:
Leighton Buzzard,
Marsworth
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Oh look, it's Milton Keynes again!
18th & 19th April
As we were getting ready to set off yesterday, the moorings warden Hazel Lloyd came by, taking our number and giving us one of her leaflets. Until this year she was doing the same job at Marsworth, and the impact on Cosgrove was noticeable. It used to be quite cluttered with boats which were clearly ignoring the time limits, but now it's very tidy.
She was also able to explain our disappointment last night. As I said last time, we'd planned to go out for a meal at the Barley Mow to celebrate Sanity's fourth birthday, and during the afternoon I'd used the excuse of having a letter to post to walk round there. They had the decorators in, but there was a big notice under the name board saying "Business as Usual".
Imagine our surprise and disappointment, then, when, having got ourselves all togged up in respectable clothes, we rolled up to find the main door shut. We went round to the side door, which was open, and the lights were on in the bar, but there was no one about, and the whole place reeked of emulsion, such that you'd never have wanted to eat there anyway.
We ambled, muttering, back to the boat, and dined a little belatedly on some goulash I'd got in the freezer, accompanied by peas and rice.
Hazel explained that the pub had changed hands at the start of the month, and wasn't due to open until the end. Heaven knows why they had the Business as Usual sign out.
In very cold and quite windy conditions we chugged off to Wolverton, stopping to do a thorough shop at the Tesco. This is always a trial for Sheila, whose vertigo makes the climb up the open iron staircase to the roadway from the canal a trial of terror. Coming back down, laden with full daysacks and carriers in each hand is even worse.
Nonetheless, we made it and took a break to have a coffee whilst I stowed the groceries. Then it was off again towards the centre of Milton Keynes. We'd half thought of stopping short at the Black Horse for our delayed meal out, but as it was Friday, and as we were both feeling a touch under the weather gastrically (nothing to do with the goulash, thank you), we decided to give it a miss. We'll take a rain check on the pub meal until we feel more in the mood to enjoy it.
When we got to Campbell Park, there was a decent space on the 48 hour mooring. It always used to be quite hard to find a space here, and there's no mooring warden at present, but perhaps the threat of a £50 charge per night for overstaying has had some impact.
After a belated lunch, we had a quiet afternoon, though I didn't completely squander the time. John on Acen had shown me how he'd improved the performance of his 12V pump out pump by rewiring the supply to avoid voltage drop. He'd done it by taking two lengths of 230V type flex and joining the three cores together in each, thus making two heavy duty cables. He'd used one for each side of the supply, and said that as a result, the pump was now lifting the black water much better.
I decided to try this with ours. I had some spare orange external type flex, a weather proof switch left over from our abortive purchase of a 230V pump, and some connectors to use on the other end. I cut out most of the cable which Braidbar had fitted, which was medium thick, but not as heavy as it might have been, and replaced it with the orange flex, rigged as I've described. A spin off means that there's now a switch at the pump end, rather than having to go back in the boat to switch it off.
The pump still runs, so that's a good start, but we'll only tell if it's made a serious difference when we next come to pump out. The hope is that it will improve the final clearing of sludge from the bottom of the tank. At the moment, no matter how thoroughly we rinse, we never get the Tankwatch gauge back to the green light that means completely empty.
Today has been a quiet day, with a lazy start, followed by shopping in MK. I've been helping to prepare some literature for SOW, and we ran a washload whilst running the engine for battery charging purposes. I also rang Limehouse Lock, and booked our trip up the Thames for after we've been to Cavalcade. We're going out at 1415 on the Thursday, 8th May, which should get us to Brentford at the top of the tide around five o'clock.
Tomorrow we'll head off again, stopping somewhere near Soulbury tomorrow night, and on to Marsworth for Monday.
As we were getting ready to set off yesterday, the moorings warden Hazel Lloyd came by, taking our number and giving us one of her leaflets. Until this year she was doing the same job at Marsworth, and the impact on Cosgrove was noticeable. It used to be quite cluttered with boats which were clearly ignoring the time limits, but now it's very tidy.
She was also able to explain our disappointment last night. As I said last time, we'd planned to go out for a meal at the Barley Mow to celebrate Sanity's fourth birthday, and during the afternoon I'd used the excuse of having a letter to post to walk round there. They had the decorators in, but there was a big notice under the name board saying "Business as Usual".
Imagine our surprise and disappointment, then, when, having got ourselves all togged up in respectable clothes, we rolled up to find the main door shut. We went round to the side door, which was open, and the lights were on in the bar, but there was no one about, and the whole place reeked of emulsion, such that you'd never have wanted to eat there anyway.
We ambled, muttering, back to the boat, and dined a little belatedly on some goulash I'd got in the freezer, accompanied by peas and rice.
Hazel explained that the pub had changed hands at the start of the month, and wasn't due to open until the end. Heaven knows why they had the Business as Usual sign out.
In very cold and quite windy conditions we chugged off to Wolverton, stopping to do a thorough shop at the Tesco. This is always a trial for Sheila, whose vertigo makes the climb up the open iron staircase to the roadway from the canal a trial of terror. Coming back down, laden with full daysacks and carriers in each hand is even worse.
Nonetheless, we made it and took a break to have a coffee whilst I stowed the groceries. Then it was off again towards the centre of Milton Keynes. We'd half thought of stopping short at the Black Horse for our delayed meal out, but as it was Friday, and as we were both feeling a touch under the weather gastrically (nothing to do with the goulash, thank you), we decided to give it a miss. We'll take a rain check on the pub meal until we feel more in the mood to enjoy it.
When we got to Campbell Park, there was a decent space on the 48 hour mooring. It always used to be quite hard to find a space here, and there's no mooring warden at present, but perhaps the threat of a £50 charge per night for overstaying has had some impact.
After a belated lunch, we had a quiet afternoon, though I didn't completely squander the time. John on Acen had shown me how he'd improved the performance of his 12V pump out pump by rewiring the supply to avoid voltage drop. He'd done it by taking two lengths of 230V type flex and joining the three cores together in each, thus making two heavy duty cables. He'd used one for each side of the supply, and said that as a result, the pump was now lifting the black water much better.
I decided to try this with ours. I had some spare orange external type flex, a weather proof switch left over from our abortive purchase of a 230V pump, and some connectors to use on the other end. I cut out most of the cable which Braidbar had fitted, which was medium thick, but not as heavy as it might have been, and replaced it with the orange flex, rigged as I've described. A spin off means that there's now a switch at the pump end, rather than having to go back in the boat to switch it off.
The pump still runs, so that's a good start, but we'll only tell if it's made a serious difference when we next come to pump out. The hope is that it will improve the final clearing of sludge from the bottom of the tank. At the moment, no matter how thoroughly we rinse, we never get the Tankwatch gauge back to the green light that means completely empty.
Today has been a quiet day, with a lazy start, followed by shopping in MK. I've been helping to prepare some literature for SOW, and we ran a washload whilst running the engine for battery charging purposes. I also rang Limehouse Lock, and booked our trip up the Thames for after we've been to Cavalcade. We're going out at 1415 on the Thursday, 8th May, which should get us to Brentford at the top of the tide around five o'clock.
Tomorrow we'll head off again, stopping somewhere near Soulbury tomorrow night, and on to Marsworth for Monday.
Labels:
Cosgrove,
Milton Keynes
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Heading steadily South
16th & 17th April
After I'd popped to the shop for bread and a paper, we got away from Weedon just after nine. It was a case of steady boating in quite a lot of traffic until we came to Gayton Junction, last visited last year when we came up off the Nene. Just before there, we passed a farm on the towpath side advertising eggs, as some do. The only difference here was that the notice read "Goat eggs, £1.50 per dozen". We are still pondering the meaning of this surreal piece of marketing.
At Heyford Fields Marina, one of two new ones on this stretch, we saw Scarweather, a Braidbar that changed hands recently, tied to a pontoon. It's nice to know where she's gone, even if her new owners haven't (yet) joined the Braidbar Owners Group. Tied on the towpath outside the marina were two blogging liveaboards, Moore2Life and No Problem.
Also on the way, we stopped at Fred Tarry's yard at Bugbrooke and bought two bags of PureHeat, since the weather looks like keeping rather cold for a while yet. At this time of year I don't like to buy too much solid fuel at once, as I've said before, but we were pleased to find these.
We'd originally planned to go through the tunnel yesterday, but decided to save that for today, and stop in Blisworth village overnight. Then we came on a nice bit of quiet mooring out in the country just before the village, and called it a day there.
After lunch we took a stroll round the village, and I took a picture of the quaintly named Candle Bridge. According to the interpretation board beside it, the cottage was known as Candle Cottage because the woman who lived there made candles and sold them to the boaters preparing to go through the tunnel.
Sheila wanted to get away in good time today, so as to get through the tunnel while it was quiet and not full of exhaust fumes. After a rather restless night, we got up at 6.30 and were boating a quarter hour later. I had breakfast as we went through, then took over the helm whilst Sheila grabbed hers in the short stretch between the tunnel and the top of Stoke Bruerne locks.
I was pleased that the wander light we bought in Whilton Chandlers worked well – with it stuck to the slide, Sheila could see the roof arch immediately in front of her, and read the distance boards as they went by.
There was no one about at Stoke, so we started down the locks straight away. At the third one down, I came across the lockie running water through it. He explained that there was an empty pound further down, so we had to wait for ten minutes while he sent enough water down to refill it. He then came back up the flight, dropping the bottom paddle he'd raised on each lock, but leaving the top one open, so that the lock would start refilling for us.
As we cleared the third lock down and went into the fourth, a Wyvern Shipping hire boat appeared, and we agreed to wait for them and share the remainder of the locks. This meant that I could go ahead preparing each lock, as they were three up and so could work both sides of the lock the boats were in.
In this way we made short work of the rest of the flight, and Pearl went off happily, leaving us to water and run the washing machine on one of the row of water points at the bottom.
Then it was a steady plod in an increasingly cold wind to Cosgrove, one of our favourite moorings. We arrived at 11.15, after boating for four and a half hours, counting the half hour on the water point. I went off to the caravan site here in search of a paper, and was pleased to discover that what had been a quite small shop in the middle of the site has moved to a much more convenient position for those coming from outside.
It's now by the main entrance, and is much bigger than it was, with a correspondingly greater range of groceries, though still at quite high prices.
Today is Sanity's birthday, it being exactly four years since we moved on board, so we plan to eat out in the Barley Mow tonight. Tomorrow we'll go on to Milton Keynes, visiting the Tesco at Wolverton on the way.
After I'd popped to the shop for bread and a paper, we got away from Weedon just after nine. It was a case of steady boating in quite a lot of traffic until we came to Gayton Junction, last visited last year when we came up off the Nene. Just before there, we passed a farm on the towpath side advertising eggs, as some do. The only difference here was that the notice read "Goat eggs, £1.50 per dozen". We are still pondering the meaning of this surreal piece of marketing.
At Heyford Fields Marina, one of two new ones on this stretch, we saw Scarweather, a Braidbar that changed hands recently, tied to a pontoon. It's nice to know where she's gone, even if her new owners haven't (yet) joined the Braidbar Owners Group. Tied on the towpath outside the marina were two blogging liveaboards, Moore2Life and No Problem.
Also on the way, we stopped at Fred Tarry's yard at Bugbrooke and bought two bags of PureHeat, since the weather looks like keeping rather cold for a while yet. At this time of year I don't like to buy too much solid fuel at once, as I've said before, but we were pleased to find these.
We'd originally planned to go through the tunnel yesterday, but decided to save that for today, and stop in Blisworth village overnight. Then we came on a nice bit of quiet mooring out in the country just before the village, and called it a day there.
After lunch we took a stroll round the village, and I took a picture of the quaintly named Candle Bridge. According to the interpretation board beside it, the cottage was known as Candle Cottage because the woman who lived there made candles and sold them to the boaters preparing to go through the tunnel.
Sheila wanted to get away in good time today, so as to get through the tunnel while it was quiet and not full of exhaust fumes. After a rather restless night, we got up at 6.30 and were boating a quarter hour later. I had breakfast as we went through, then took over the helm whilst Sheila grabbed hers in the short stretch between the tunnel and the top of Stoke Bruerne locks.
I was pleased that the wander light we bought in Whilton Chandlers worked well – with it stuck to the slide, Sheila could see the roof arch immediately in front of her, and read the distance boards as they went by.
There was no one about at Stoke, so we started down the locks straight away. At the third one down, I came across the lockie running water through it. He explained that there was an empty pound further down, so we had to wait for ten minutes while he sent enough water down to refill it. He then came back up the flight, dropping the bottom paddle he'd raised on each lock, but leaving the top one open, so that the lock would start refilling for us.
As we cleared the third lock down and went into the fourth, a Wyvern Shipping hire boat appeared, and we agreed to wait for them and share the remainder of the locks. This meant that I could go ahead preparing each lock, as they were three up and so could work both sides of the lock the boats were in.
In this way we made short work of the rest of the flight, and Pearl went off happily, leaving us to water and run the washing machine on one of the row of water points at the bottom.
Then it was a steady plod in an increasingly cold wind to Cosgrove, one of our favourite moorings. We arrived at 11.15, after boating for four and a half hours, counting the half hour on the water point. I went off to the caravan site here in search of a paper, and was pleased to discover that what had been a quite small shop in the middle of the site has moved to a much more convenient position for those coming from outside.
It's now by the main entrance, and is much bigger than it was, with a correspondingly greater range of groceries, though still at quite high prices.
Today is Sanity's birthday, it being exactly four years since we moved on board, so we plan to eat out in the Barley Mow tonight. Tomorrow we'll go on to Milton Keynes, visiting the Tesco at Wolverton on the way.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Up to Buckby and down to Weedon
14th & 15th April
We weren't in a rush to be away yesterday, as I wanted to get a cylinder of gas from the marina before we set off up the locks, so we woke early anyway, naturally. Another snag with my gas purchase plan became apparent after we'd moored on the Stop House water point – DB boatbuilding were shuffling boats in and out of their covered dock, so had the walkway across the front of it raised, cutting off the central peninsula from the Stop House side, unless you went out onto the road and back in the other entrance to the complex.
Needless to say, the marina shop and gas stocks are on the central peninsula. Nonetheless, I trekked round, paid GBP19.90 for 13kg of propane (a new record) and trundled it up the road on a borrowed trolley.
Once we were all sorted, we went on to the bottom lock. No one was waiting to go up, but a Canaltime was just coming out. We went into the empty lock and waited, and in due course Solace, with Jeff and Lynda on board, came out of the boatyard by the lock and joined us. They were on their way back to their mooring at Weedon after having the boat blacked.
We made good progress up the locks. The trip was enlivened by Chris from Beaulieu, a boat on the way down, calling across that he is a regular blog reader. He and his wife Alison had seen round Sanity at Crick, but in the end had opted for a private share scheme. It was good to see you, Chris – good cruising!
We went straight on from the top lock into the tunnel. The first half was OK, but just after passing a privateer, I came upon two BW craft, firstly a dredger, and then its associated tug and mud hopper, both in the dogleg, of course. I managed to get past without too much bumping and scraping, but the cacophony from their engines was horrendous.
We got to Buckby top just in nice time for lunch, and found a mooring above the lock for once. It's really hard to moor tidily there – the rings are spaced well apart, and there's no way of fixing a piling chain, or of driving a stake into the towpath, so you end up tied with big spaces between the boats.
After lunch we took a walk down the flight to Whilton Chandlery. We need a spare buoyancy aid for when Michael visits us next month and hopefully we have a trip on the tidal Thames. In the event we found not only the buoyancy aid, but also a 12v lamp to use at the back end in tunnels. A visit to the garden centre between the bottom locks also found a wooden trough to go outside the plastic herb trough on the roof. Sheila's been looking for a way of improving the appearance of the roof garden, so all in all it was a useful excursion.
This morning, with no reason to hang around, we found it hard to get up and get going. The Eberspacher took two goes to fire up as well, so it's clearly going to be a race to the line whether it goes on strike altogether before the weather improves enough for us not to need it in the mornings.
Just before nine we went into the top lock, and Duncommutin, who had been tied between the water point and the lock, promptly started up and joined us. Duncommutin is a split new boat from Amber, so is a Polish hull fitted out in the UK. Her new owners (and their 18 month old son) had collected her from Evesham and were taking her to their mooring in Uxbridge.
We had a slowish trip down, not because of any lack of skill on our part, but because of the traffic on the flight ahead. It wasn't a hassle – one of the boats in front was a community boat full of Scouts, still acquiring basic boating skills. Coming up were a succession of Alvechurch boats out of Gayton Junction, for whom this was their first encounter with locks. No big problems, as I say, just a case of everyone taking their time and showing some understanding of the novices' problems. In any event, the warm sunny weather made it easy to chill out and wait.
We left Duncommutin contemplating the prospect of paying 78 ppl for diesel at Whilton (it's never cheap there) and plodded steadily on to Weedon. On the way, a BW guy on the towpath warned us to look out for a man wearing a red top and blue trousers. This was the dreaded Finch, boat thief extraordinary, who must have broken his probation again.
12.25 and we were at Weedon, tied on the towpath opposite the offside visitor moorings that have such a nasty ledge below the waterline. After lunch (which we were able to take in the sun on the bow, though it meant wearing fleeces to do so), we set to and cut some more wood, and I got up on the roof and removed some evidence of ducky canoodling and general muck. It's the best Spring weather we've had this year, though later on it started to rain, so we've retreated back into the boat to do the routine domestic bits and pieces like this blog.
Tomorrow on to Stoke Bruerne, and Cosgrove the day after.
We weren't in a rush to be away yesterday, as I wanted to get a cylinder of gas from the marina before we set off up the locks, so we woke early anyway, naturally. Another snag with my gas purchase plan became apparent after we'd moored on the Stop House water point – DB boatbuilding were shuffling boats in and out of their covered dock, so had the walkway across the front of it raised, cutting off the central peninsula from the Stop House side, unless you went out onto the road and back in the other entrance to the complex.
Needless to say, the marina shop and gas stocks are on the central peninsula. Nonetheless, I trekked round, paid GBP19.90 for 13kg of propane (a new record) and trundled it up the road on a borrowed trolley.
Once we were all sorted, we went on to the bottom lock. No one was waiting to go up, but a Canaltime was just coming out. We went into the empty lock and waited, and in due course Solace, with Jeff and Lynda on board, came out of the boatyard by the lock and joined us. They were on their way back to their mooring at Weedon after having the boat blacked.
We made good progress up the locks. The trip was enlivened by Chris from Beaulieu, a boat on the way down, calling across that he is a regular blog reader. He and his wife Alison had seen round Sanity at Crick, but in the end had opted for a private share scheme. It was good to see you, Chris – good cruising!
We went straight on from the top lock into the tunnel. The first half was OK, but just after passing a privateer, I came upon two BW craft, firstly a dredger, and then its associated tug and mud hopper, both in the dogleg, of course. I managed to get past without too much bumping and scraping, but the cacophony from their engines was horrendous.
We got to Buckby top just in nice time for lunch, and found a mooring above the lock for once. It's really hard to moor tidily there – the rings are spaced well apart, and there's no way of fixing a piling chain, or of driving a stake into the towpath, so you end up tied with big spaces between the boats.
After lunch we took a walk down the flight to Whilton Chandlery. We need a spare buoyancy aid for when Michael visits us next month and hopefully we have a trip on the tidal Thames. In the event we found not only the buoyancy aid, but also a 12v lamp to use at the back end in tunnels. A visit to the garden centre between the bottom locks also found a wooden trough to go outside the plastic herb trough on the roof. Sheila's been looking for a way of improving the appearance of the roof garden, so all in all it was a useful excursion.
This morning, with no reason to hang around, we found it hard to get up and get going. The Eberspacher took two goes to fire up as well, so it's clearly going to be a race to the line whether it goes on strike altogether before the weather improves enough for us not to need it in the mornings.
Just before nine we went into the top lock, and Duncommutin, who had been tied between the water point and the lock, promptly started up and joined us. Duncommutin is a split new boat from Amber, so is a Polish hull fitted out in the UK. Her new owners (and their 18 month old son) had collected her from Evesham and were taking her to their mooring in Uxbridge.
We had a slowish trip down, not because of any lack of skill on our part, but because of the traffic on the flight ahead. It wasn't a hassle – one of the boats in front was a community boat full of Scouts, still acquiring basic boating skills. Coming up were a succession of Alvechurch boats out of Gayton Junction, for whom this was their first encounter with locks. No big problems, as I say, just a case of everyone taking their time and showing some understanding of the novices' problems. In any event, the warm sunny weather made it easy to chill out and wait.
We left Duncommutin contemplating the prospect of paying 78 ppl for diesel at Whilton (it's never cheap there) and plodded steadily on to Weedon. On the way, a BW guy on the towpath warned us to look out for a man wearing a red top and blue trousers. This was the dreaded Finch, boat thief extraordinary, who must have broken his probation again.
12.25 and we were at Weedon, tied on the towpath opposite the offside visitor moorings that have such a nasty ledge below the waterline. After lunch (which we were able to take in the sun on the bow, though it meant wearing fleeces to do so), we set to and cut some more wood, and I got up on the roof and removed some evidence of ducky canoodling and general muck. It's the best Spring weather we've had this year, though later on it started to rain, so we've retreated back into the boat to do the routine domestic bits and pieces like this blog.
Tomorrow on to Stoke Bruerne, and Cosgrove the day after.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Onto Braunston and a natterfest
12th & 13th April
Yesterday we made an early start on another bright and breezy morning. We went round onto the water point first, and filled up the tank more or less. The supply there is quite slow, and we'll have a chance to top up when we leave Braunston, so it wasn't worth filling it absolutely to the top.
Sheila steered as we worked up the three Hillmorton locks in fine style, going in just after half eight, and getting to the top before nine, having passed boats in each of the intermediate pounds. Truly the holiday season has started.
By eleven we were at Braunston, which was buzzing. Sheila had decided to try and get a mooring between the Turn and the locks if possible – if not, she would wind Sanity in the second marina entrance, under the ladder bridge, and we'd go and moor on the puddle banks, winding again before resuming our journey on Monday.
I hopped off under Bridge 90, the first road bridge, and found a boat, Odyssey, moored just beyond the Turn, where Ivor Bachelor used to tie Mountbatten and Jellicoe. Her steerer had just started the engine, and when I asked if he was going, said he would be as soon as his missus came back from shopping in about ten minutes.
I signalled to Sheila to pull in behind, and we waited – Odyssey's mate showed up promptly, and there we were with a quiet mooring which, amazingly for Braunston, has a useable phone signal, and a fast data signal.
Immediately in front of us were the hotel pair Lady Selena and Lady Margaret of Ladyline Cruising. They were getting ready for their first trip of the season. The boats look very nice, and, unlike some hotel boat operators, they are very friendly and chatty.
After lunch we took a walk to the shop at the bottom lock, where they sell second hand books as well as a whole range of other stuff. The second hand books are in aid of Macmillan Cancer Charity, so well worth supporting. I bought a Peter Dickinson I hadn't read, and Sheila found an Alan Titchmarsh – not great literature, but good for a laugh. I also bought a new copy of a book about the old working boaters, Voices from the Waterways by Jean Stone.
On the way back, we stopped to chat to Jo and John on Acen, last met at Crick Show last year, and good friends of Graham and Carolann Richardson of Autumn Years with whom we have lost one or two afternoons in the past four years. Next thing we know we're inside having a cup of tea and a good long natter. We finally tore ourselves away and went back to Sanity for a quiet late afternoon and evening.
Today was a lazy start, as we won't going anywhere. We just enjoy the atmosphere of Braunston on a weekend, as well as the chance for casual meetings with old friends like Jo and John.
The only fly in the ointment was that for only the second time that I can recall, the Eberspacher failed to start at the first attempt, and had to have another go, after which it was away. It's overdue for a service, so we just hope that it will keep going long enough to get clear of the cold mornings.
After breakfast we set off to walk to the village to get a paper and some meat from the butchers, who now opens on a Sunday morning. We had a bag of rubbish to drop off in the bins by the Stop House, so went the long way round, crossing the canal by Butcher's Bridge (appropriately). We saw John winding Acen in the entrance under the ladder bridge, so stood on Butcher's and gave him marks out of 6 for his performance. They said they were heading for the sluice to pump out, so after doing our stuff in the village, we saw them again by the road bridge. Another natter ensued, then we all went our ways.
Back at the boat, we got down to some wood cutting, as I was completely without kindling. On our way down here, we'd fished a half pallet out of the cut, so that was dismantled, and we started cutting up the big scaffold plank we've been storing coal bags on over the winter.
In the middle of this, Jane and Colin came past. They live on Slow Gin, and Jane and Sheila will be working together on the finance side of things at the National Festival. Yet another natter occurred, before they went off for their Sunday walk, and we finished our wood cutting and had lunch.
This afternoon has been spent in intellectual and artistic pursuits (sounds good, doesn't it?) Sheila is designing a spreadsheet to record the split in our diesel use between propulsion and power generation/ water heating, as in November we will be paying different rates of duty for the different uses, courtesy of the EU.
I meanwhile looked through my photo stock for some shots to accompany an article we're writing for one of the magazines. Naturally, I didn't have many suitable shots, so the camera was got out to remedy the deficiency.
Meantime, I'm baking some more bread to eke out the loaf we've bought today – it will be a couple of days before we find another supply, as we head down the GU.
Yesterday we made an early start on another bright and breezy morning. We went round onto the water point first, and filled up the tank more or less. The supply there is quite slow, and we'll have a chance to top up when we leave Braunston, so it wasn't worth filling it absolutely to the top.
Sheila steered as we worked up the three Hillmorton locks in fine style, going in just after half eight, and getting to the top before nine, having passed boats in each of the intermediate pounds. Truly the holiday season has started.
By eleven we were at Braunston, which was buzzing. Sheila had decided to try and get a mooring between the Turn and the locks if possible – if not, she would wind Sanity in the second marina entrance, under the ladder bridge, and we'd go and moor on the puddle banks, winding again before resuming our journey on Monday.
I hopped off under Bridge 90, the first road bridge, and found a boat, Odyssey, moored just beyond the Turn, where Ivor Bachelor used to tie Mountbatten and Jellicoe. Her steerer had just started the engine, and when I asked if he was going, said he would be as soon as his missus came back from shopping in about ten minutes.
I signalled to Sheila to pull in behind, and we waited – Odyssey's mate showed up promptly, and there we were with a quiet mooring which, amazingly for Braunston, has a useable phone signal, and a fast data signal.
Immediately in front of us were the hotel pair Lady Selena and Lady Margaret of Ladyline Cruising. They were getting ready for their first trip of the season. The boats look very nice, and, unlike some hotel boat operators, they are very friendly and chatty.
After lunch we took a walk to the shop at the bottom lock, where they sell second hand books as well as a whole range of other stuff. The second hand books are in aid of Macmillan Cancer Charity, so well worth supporting. I bought a Peter Dickinson I hadn't read, and Sheila found an Alan Titchmarsh – not great literature, but good for a laugh. I also bought a new copy of a book about the old working boaters, Voices from the Waterways by Jean Stone.
On the way back, we stopped to chat to Jo and John on Acen, last met at Crick Show last year, and good friends of Graham and Carolann Richardson of Autumn Years with whom we have lost one or two afternoons in the past four years. Next thing we know we're inside having a cup of tea and a good long natter. We finally tore ourselves away and went back to Sanity for a quiet late afternoon and evening.
Today was a lazy start, as we won't going anywhere. We just enjoy the atmosphere of Braunston on a weekend, as well as the chance for casual meetings with old friends like Jo and John.
The only fly in the ointment was that for only the second time that I can recall, the Eberspacher failed to start at the first attempt, and had to have another go, after which it was away. It's overdue for a service, so we just hope that it will keep going long enough to get clear of the cold mornings.
After breakfast we set off to walk to the village to get a paper and some meat from the butchers, who now opens on a Sunday morning. We had a bag of rubbish to drop off in the bins by the Stop House, so went the long way round, crossing the canal by Butcher's Bridge (appropriately). We saw John winding Acen in the entrance under the ladder bridge, so stood on Butcher's and gave him marks out of 6 for his performance. They said they were heading for the sluice to pump out, so after doing our stuff in the village, we saw them again by the road bridge. Another natter ensued, then we all went our ways.
Back at the boat, we got down to some wood cutting, as I was completely without kindling. On our way down here, we'd fished a half pallet out of the cut, so that was dismantled, and we started cutting up the big scaffold plank we've been storing coal bags on over the winter.
In the middle of this, Jane and Colin came past. They live on Slow Gin, and Jane and Sheila will be working together on the finance side of things at the National Festival. Yet another natter occurred, before they went off for their Sunday walk, and we finished our wood cutting and had lunch.
This afternoon has been spent in intellectual and artistic pursuits (sounds good, doesn't it?) Sheila is designing a spreadsheet to record the split in our diesel use between propulsion and power generation/ water heating, as in November we will be paying different rates of duty for the different uses, courtesy of the EU.
I meanwhile looked through my photo stock for some shots to accompany an article we're writing for one of the magazines. Naturally, I didn't have many suitable shots, so the camera was got out to remedy the deficiency.
Meantime, I'm baking some more bread to eke out the loaf we've bought today – it will be a couple of days before we find another supply, as we head down the GU.
Labels:
Braunston,
Hillmorton
Friday, 11 April 2008
A day for SOW, and a day for boating
10th & 11th April
Yesterday I was due to be collected from the car park of the Barley Mow at 9.30, so it was one of those no-rush starts to the day. My lift, Richard, in fact rang at 9.15 to say he'd arrived, and we had a quick trip up the M6/M6 Toll in his nice motor.
We got to the Stafford Boat Club before 10.30, to find Will Chapman and my old sparring partner Roger Millin already there and getting themselves sorted out. The Inaugural Meeting of the Save Our Waterways organisation went very well. SBC is a great club, with lots of spirit, and they generously share this with their guests. We had a very pleasant lunch about half way through the day's business, and things were wrapped up just on 3.30.
Obviously, the best way to find out about SOW is to visit the website, but in a nutshell, the aim is not to compete for members with any of the existing organisations and associations like the IWA, NABO or RBOA, but to seek to recruit those casual visitors to the towpath who make up the vast majority of people who benefit from the canal or river being there.
About 95% of all waterways visitors are non-boaters, and many of those don't realise the parlous state of the funding arrangements for the maintenance of our waterway heritage. By paying a fiver, these people can do their part in supporting a campaign to get things settled on a sustainable basis, in particular by seeking to broaden the sources of public funding to include local authorities and Government Departments other than DEFRA.
Richard was not returning South after the meeting, but I was able to get a lift back with Simon Robbins of NABO, and we were back in Sanity having a cup of tea by half five.
Being pleasantly tired after all this gadding about, I didn't feel much like cooking anything, so we went to the Barley Mow for a meal. It's not long changed hands, and the new owners were very eager to please. It was a pleasant meal – nothing flashy, but honest pub food, well cooked and good portions.
The Barley Mow has some accommodation, and the new owners have decided to let it out to some contractors working on the West Coast Mainline nearby. It guarantees them some income, and the lads we saw were well behaved, if perhaps rough diamonds, as you'd expect in the heirs to the navvies who built the canals. I just wonder how the mix will work out with holiday boaters, locals from this upmarket suburb of Rugby, and these guys.
Whatever, I wish the new owners every success, and can certainly recommend the pub for a decent meal.
Today we wanted to get a number of things done before lunch, so set off before nine, mooring at the Tesco mooring just on that hour. We had a fair amount of shopping to do, and it's a bit of a walk from the canal to the store. They have the usual locking trolley wheel arrangement to stop you taking the trolley out of the car park, but when we enquired at the service desk, we were assured that they could send someone with us to unlock the wheel so that we could take one large trolley load to the boat, rather than having to do two trips with full day sacks.
So we filled the trolley with milk and fruit juice and wine boxes and cans of bitter and lager, and after checking it out, went back to the desk to ask for this service. When the lad in question came, he said oh no, the tool for unlocking the wheels was broken. He came with us, however, and after we'd wheeled the trolley over the red line and it had locked, mysteriously produced another one which was functional.
I didn't see how he did it – I suspect that you have to pick it up and hold it over your head to avoid the magnetic field that triggers the locking mechanism. Anyway, we transferred the load from one trolley to the other, and wheeled it back to the boat.
I stowed the stuff while Sheila took the trolley back to the store, and we set off again. Next stop was Clifton Cruisers, where we took on just over 100 litres of diesel at 70 ppl, and had a boatyard pump out for once. It started to rain and hail quite seriously as we finished, so I was huddled on my own on the back for the last bit of boating for the day, round to the moorings at the foot of Hillmorton Locks.
We've spent the afternoon doing some internet stuff, albeit on a slow connection, and changing the bed.
Tomorrow it's up the locks and round to Braunston for the weekend, so Sheila is hoping that the April hailstones will hold off until we get there.
Yesterday I was due to be collected from the car park of the Barley Mow at 9.30, so it was one of those no-rush starts to the day. My lift, Richard, in fact rang at 9.15 to say he'd arrived, and we had a quick trip up the M6/M6 Toll in his nice motor.
We got to the Stafford Boat Club before 10.30, to find Will Chapman and my old sparring partner Roger Millin already there and getting themselves sorted out. The Inaugural Meeting of the Save Our Waterways organisation went very well. SBC is a great club, with lots of spirit, and they generously share this with their guests. We had a very pleasant lunch about half way through the day's business, and things were wrapped up just on 3.30.
Obviously, the best way to find out about SOW is to visit the website, but in a nutshell, the aim is not to compete for members with any of the existing organisations and associations like the IWA, NABO or RBOA, but to seek to recruit those casual visitors to the towpath who make up the vast majority of people who benefit from the canal or river being there.
About 95% of all waterways visitors are non-boaters, and many of those don't realise the parlous state of the funding arrangements for the maintenance of our waterway heritage. By paying a fiver, these people can do their part in supporting a campaign to get things settled on a sustainable basis, in particular by seeking to broaden the sources of public funding to include local authorities and Government Departments other than DEFRA.
Richard was not returning South after the meeting, but I was able to get a lift back with Simon Robbins of NABO, and we were back in Sanity having a cup of tea by half five.
Being pleasantly tired after all this gadding about, I didn't feel much like cooking anything, so we went to the Barley Mow for a meal. It's not long changed hands, and the new owners were very eager to please. It was a pleasant meal – nothing flashy, but honest pub food, well cooked and good portions.
The Barley Mow has some accommodation, and the new owners have decided to let it out to some contractors working on the West Coast Mainline nearby. It guarantees them some income, and the lads we saw were well behaved, if perhaps rough diamonds, as you'd expect in the heirs to the navvies who built the canals. I just wonder how the mix will work out with holiday boaters, locals from this upmarket suburb of Rugby, and these guys.
Whatever, I wish the new owners every success, and can certainly recommend the pub for a decent meal.
Today we wanted to get a number of things done before lunch, so set off before nine, mooring at the Tesco mooring just on that hour. We had a fair amount of shopping to do, and it's a bit of a walk from the canal to the store. They have the usual locking trolley wheel arrangement to stop you taking the trolley out of the car park, but when we enquired at the service desk, we were assured that they could send someone with us to unlock the wheel so that we could take one large trolley load to the boat, rather than having to do two trips with full day sacks.
So we filled the trolley with milk and fruit juice and wine boxes and cans of bitter and lager, and after checking it out, went back to the desk to ask for this service. When the lad in question came, he said oh no, the tool for unlocking the wheels was broken. He came with us, however, and after we'd wheeled the trolley over the red line and it had locked, mysteriously produced another one which was functional.
I didn't see how he did it – I suspect that you have to pick it up and hold it over your head to avoid the magnetic field that triggers the locking mechanism. Anyway, we transferred the load from one trolley to the other, and wheeled it back to the boat.
I stowed the stuff while Sheila took the trolley back to the store, and we set off again. Next stop was Clifton Cruisers, where we took on just over 100 litres of diesel at 70 ppl, and had a boatyard pump out for once. It started to rain and hail quite seriously as we finished, so I was huddled on my own on the back for the last bit of boating for the day, round to the moorings at the foot of Hillmorton Locks.
We've spent the afternoon doing some internet stuff, albeit on a slow connection, and changing the bed.
Tomorrow it's up the locks and round to Braunston for the weekend, so Sheila is hoping that the April hailstones will hold off until we get there.
Labels:
Hillmorton,
Newbold,
Rugby
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Lazing for a day, then on to Newbold
8th & 9th April
After the exertions of the previous two days, it was pleasant to make a very lazy start yesterday. It had been another cold night the night before, so we loafed in bed listening to the Eberspacher doing its best for some time.
After breakfast we walked into Brinklow in search of a loaf of bread and a paper. The shop there is a Post Office and newsagents, with a some very basic groceries. We got an Independent all right, but the bread choice was confined to thick sliced white or medium sliced ditto. It's for this eventuality that I've taken to keeping a couple of bake your own bread kits in the cupboard, and when we got back to Sanity I set to and made one up. I made it into four demi baguette type things, and they were just out of the oven for ten minutes or so when it was time for lunch.
Must say, the granary bread, still warm and stuffed with cold meat and caramelized onion hummus, or red Leicester cheese and beetroot chutney, were delicious. It meant that we ate the lot, the equivalent of a two pound loaf between us, so the afternoon was quite peaceful, with not a lot of activity.
I did finally get round to cleaning the bathroom, but the rest of the time was spent reading and surfing the internet at a very slow speed in view of the GPRS connection.
Today we made a more prompt start, with the idea of getting diesel and perhaps a pump out at Terry Yates's yard just before Newbold tunnel. It was another bright, frosty morning, great for boating. As we passed the moored boats by All Oaks Wood, one of the boaters complained to us that it was a fine morning for February. There's no pleasing some folk, and anyway, what's unusual about a frosty morning in April?
We got to Yates's just at 9.30, but it was closed – either he was feeling lazy, or he's stopped doing diesel, or he's out of stock at the moment. The main worry is less the fuel than the state of the toilet tank, but we should be OK until Friday when we can get a pump out at Clifton Cruisers.
Newbold Tunnel was its colourful self – it's pleasing to see that, having spent all that money on fancy lighting, they are at least maintaining it. We filled the water tank and started a washload, then went round to tie on some very empty moorings. Newbold's another of those places where either the moorings are chocker, or deserted. It never feels too lonely, because of the long term moorings beyond the visitor ones. Presumably BW have chased the winter moorers away, and the holiday traffic is not yet brisk enough to fill the spaces.
After lunch I put some snow photos up on the website, then we went for a walk around the nature park they've made out of the local quarry. It still feels very raw, and it will be a few years before it's at its best, but the locals seem to appreciate it as a place for dog walks and the like.
We saw a couple of pair of grebe, and four male tufties pursuing one female, in addition to the usual coots, mallard and swans.
I'm going off to the Inaugural SOW meeting tomorrow, lift courtesy of Richard Carpenter (thanks Richard) then on Friday we'll head off for Hillmorton via Clifton Cruisers.
After the exertions of the previous two days, it was pleasant to make a very lazy start yesterday. It had been another cold night the night before, so we loafed in bed listening to the Eberspacher doing its best for some time.
After breakfast we walked into Brinklow in search of a loaf of bread and a paper. The shop there is a Post Office and newsagents, with a some very basic groceries. We got an Independent all right, but the bread choice was confined to thick sliced white or medium sliced ditto. It's for this eventuality that I've taken to keeping a couple of bake your own bread kits in the cupboard, and when we got back to Sanity I set to and made one up. I made it into four demi baguette type things, and they were just out of the oven for ten minutes or so when it was time for lunch.
Must say, the granary bread, still warm and stuffed with cold meat and caramelized onion hummus, or red Leicester cheese and beetroot chutney, were delicious. It meant that we ate the lot, the equivalent of a two pound loaf between us, so the afternoon was quite peaceful, with not a lot of activity.
I did finally get round to cleaning the bathroom, but the rest of the time was spent reading and surfing the internet at a very slow speed in view of the GPRS connection.
Today we made a more prompt start, with the idea of getting diesel and perhaps a pump out at Terry Yates's yard just before Newbold tunnel. It was another bright, frosty morning, great for boating. As we passed the moored boats by All Oaks Wood, one of the boaters complained to us that it was a fine morning for February. There's no pleasing some folk, and anyway, what's unusual about a frosty morning in April?
We got to Yates's just at 9.30, but it was closed – either he was feeling lazy, or he's stopped doing diesel, or he's out of stock at the moment. The main worry is less the fuel than the state of the toilet tank, but we should be OK until Friday when we can get a pump out at Clifton Cruisers.
Newbold Tunnel was its colourful self – it's pleasing to see that, having spent all that money on fancy lighting, they are at least maintaining it. We filled the water tank and started a washload, then went round to tie on some very empty moorings. Newbold's another of those places where either the moorings are chocker, or deserted. It never feels too lonely, because of the long term moorings beyond the visitor ones. Presumably BW have chased the winter moorers away, and the holiday traffic is not yet brisk enough to fill the spaces.
After lunch I put some snow photos up on the website, then we went for a walk around the nature park they've made out of the local quarry. It still feels very raw, and it will be a few years before it's at its best, but the locals seem to appreciate it as a place for dog walks and the like.
We saw a couple of pair of grebe, and four male tufties pursuing one female, in addition to the usual coots, mallard and swans.
I'm going off to the Inaugural SOW meeting tomorrow, lift courtesy of Richard Carpenter (thanks Richard) then on Friday we'll head off for Hillmorton via Clifton Cruisers.
Labels:
All Oaks Wood,
Brinklow,
Newbold
Monday, 7 April 2008
Moving on South
6th & 7th April
We went to bed the night before last after an evening of huge hailstones bouncing around and splashing into the water. In the morning, there was a fairly complete covering of snow across the landscape. It looked so good, I was dressed and out of the boat at 7.30 taking pictures.
We had breakfast and then set off up the remainder of the Atherstone flight, arriving at the handy mooring between locks 6 and 5 just before 10. By the time I'd walked round to the Co-op Superstore, it was 10 and they'd opened up, it being Sunday.
Sheila meanwhile remained behind on anchor watch, running a wash load. Respective tasks done, we set off again, with me taking my turn at working the locks.
These were all taking a bit longer than usual, as the snow made everything quite slippery. Normally, on narrow locks like these, the lockwheeler will step across the lock at the bottom from an open gate to a closed one, or vice versa, but with snow and ice on the footboards, it was not a good idea. Much time had thus to be spent walking up one side of the lock and down the other.
Nonetheless, we made steady progress, and arrived at Hartshill by 12.15. We'd had mugs of soup on the way to keep the cold out, but were still well ready for our lunch.
After lunch we went to Dobbies. We'd no major items in mind, but managed to spend a bit of cash, even so. The food store had nice crisps (Tyrell's) and a sugar free fruit cake, and we got a replacement plant pot saucer for the bay tree tub from the garden centre itself (the old one having blown away in the gales earlier in the year).
Finally we bought some dried fruit at the Julian Graves concession and headed back to the boat.
Today we had the long haul from Hartshill to All Oaks Wood at Brinklow to do, so Sheila decided to make a really early start, despite the cold morning. Whilst I was making the first thing tea, she got up and started boating, so that we were on our way by 7.30
Although it really was very cold, it was quite pleasant, and Sheila had cocooned herself in warm clothes. I took over just before Nuneaton so that she could get breakfast, and we got to Sutton's Stop by 10.20. We watered there, and then carried on for All Oaks Wood.
Sheila made an excellent job of the tricky turn off the Coventry onto the Oxford, despite the fact that I was chatting to a couple from one of the moored boats as I waited by the stop lock. Usually, of course, if you are observed things go pear shaped, but this time Sanity came round the 180 degree turn under the bridge in one move, no reversing or heavy revving at all.
The couple I was talking to remembered the early days of Braidbar, as they'd been moored at Whaley Bridge at the time, and their boat, like the early Braidbars, was based on a Chappell and Wright hull.
At 12 we had another mug of soup en route, but, as so often going this way, we'd forgotten how far it is from Hawkesbury to Brinklow. It's one of those routes that we know far too well to bother checking the cruising guides, and then we get taken by surprise. As it was, it was gone 1.30 before we'd finished, and we were very glad to get our lunch.
A quiet afternoon followed. We don't actually need to be at Newbold until Wednesday evening, so we'll probably stay here tomorrow, and then go on the next day.
We went to bed the night before last after an evening of huge hailstones bouncing around and splashing into the water. In the morning, there was a fairly complete covering of snow across the landscape. It looked so good, I was dressed and out of the boat at 7.30 taking pictures.
We had breakfast and then set off up the remainder of the Atherstone flight, arriving at the handy mooring between locks 6 and 5 just before 10. By the time I'd walked round to the Co-op Superstore, it was 10 and they'd opened up, it being Sunday.
Sheila meanwhile remained behind on anchor watch, running a wash load. Respective tasks done, we set off again, with me taking my turn at working the locks.
These were all taking a bit longer than usual, as the snow made everything quite slippery. Normally, on narrow locks like these, the lockwheeler will step across the lock at the bottom from an open gate to a closed one, or vice versa, but with snow and ice on the footboards, it was not a good idea. Much time had thus to be spent walking up one side of the lock and down the other.
Nonetheless, we made steady progress, and arrived at Hartshill by 12.15. We'd had mugs of soup on the way to keep the cold out, but were still well ready for our lunch.
After lunch we went to Dobbies. We'd no major items in mind, but managed to spend a bit of cash, even so. The food store had nice crisps (Tyrell's) and a sugar free fruit cake, and we got a replacement plant pot saucer for the bay tree tub from the garden centre itself (the old one having blown away in the gales earlier in the year).
Finally we bought some dried fruit at the Julian Graves concession and headed back to the boat.
Today we had the long haul from Hartshill to All Oaks Wood at Brinklow to do, so Sheila decided to make a really early start, despite the cold morning. Whilst I was making the first thing tea, she got up and started boating, so that we were on our way by 7.30
Although it really was very cold, it was quite pleasant, and Sheila had cocooned herself in warm clothes. I took over just before Nuneaton so that she could get breakfast, and we got to Sutton's Stop by 10.20. We watered there, and then carried on for All Oaks Wood.
Sheila made an excellent job of the tricky turn off the Coventry onto the Oxford, despite the fact that I was chatting to a couple from one of the moored boats as I waited by the stop lock. Usually, of course, if you are observed things go pear shaped, but this time Sanity came round the 180 degree turn under the bridge in one move, no reversing or heavy revving at all.
The couple I was talking to remembered the early days of Braidbar, as they'd been moored at Whaley Bridge at the time, and their boat, like the early Braidbars, was based on a Chappell and Wright hull.
At 12 we had another mug of soup en route, but, as so often going this way, we'd forgotten how far it is from Hawkesbury to Brinklow. It's one of those routes that we know far too well to bother checking the cruising guides, and then we get taken by surprise. As it was, it was gone 1.30 before we'd finished, and we were very glad to get our lunch.
A quiet afternoon followed. We don't actually need to be at Newbold until Wednesday evening, so we'll probably stay here tomorrow, and then go on the next day.
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Off we go; we're stopping out for the summer
4th & 5th April
With some serious boating in prospect, we made a prompt start yesterday, and had arrived at Fradley Junction by 9.45. It was my turn to steer, so Sheila took the bike out and used it all the way to Fradley. This enabled her to note that, despite the reassurances when we reported it the other day, the rabbit hole in the towpath below Common Lock had not been filled in, and indeed is now big enough to take the whole of the front of your foot. This will be bad luck for the jogger who catches their toes in it.
The junction was in its usual mood of merry chaos, especially as, being a Friday, all the OwnerShips boats were turning round. We pulled round onto the Coventry Canal water point, and took a phone call from Will Chapman. We'd used their address for Sheila to order some crochet cotton for her current order, and it hadn't turned up until yesterday.
Will, being one of the best, drove over to Fradley with it and delivered it before we'd finished packing away the water hose. Then it was onwards, with that still present sense of adventure we get at the start of each year's cruising.
We decided to make it to the shopping mooring at Fazeley in time to do our main shop for the week at Sainsbury's, so chose to eat lunch on the move. This meant that Sheila was on the tiller as we went through Whittington, where she got to see the first ducklings of the year, looking very new and like little furry bath toys.
We got to Fazeley by two, and went straight to Sainsbury's – the cupboards had got quite run down during the week at Alrewas with access only to a small Co-op for our groceries, so we had two good day sacks full of stuff, as well as a shopping bag in each hand for each of us.
Sheila then improved the shining hour still further by cutting some wood with the new blade in the bow saw, in view of the weather forecast, which predicts a brief return to wintry weather over the weekend.
It's no more than you can expect in April, after all, hence the saying "Ne'er cast a clout 'til may be out". This doesn't mean 'don't throw away dishcloths until the end of May', but rather don't put your winter woollies away until you see the hawthorn (or may) in bloom. Since hawthorn is sensitive to average daytime temperatures, this is one of those old saws that actually works. We won't be getting the shorts and t-shirts out for a bit.
Nonetheless, it's good to see some warm sun from time to time, and to be able to sleep at night with the Houdini open over the bed.
We made an even prompter start this morning – we wanted to get up Glascote Locks before the Saturday rush, recalling our experience there last autumn, when they were filling so slowly. We were away before eight, stopping briefly at Fazeley services to off load the recycling, then Sheila boated slowly on whilst I popped into the Tesco Express to buy a paper, catching up with her on the visitor moorings just on the Glascote side of the junction.
This did mean we were passed by a guy single handing a bright yellow boat, but when we got to Glascote he was just setting the lock, and indeed, with a little help from me, worked up the two very efficiently.
When we left the top lock, we found that the offside top paddle wouldn't wind down. Sheila drove Sanity out of the lock, and I closed it up and drew a bottom paddle. Then I lifted the offending top paddle to see if that would flush through whatever was blocking it, but no joy.
Having dropped the bottom paddle again, I rejoined the boat, and once we were underway, called the BW emergency line to report the problem. Must say they were very efficient, and the inspector called me back within ten minutes to cross check the message. He said that it was probably a car tyre sticking in the mouth of the paddle culvert, and that "the lads" would be straight out to sort it.
I then settled below, the weather having turned quite cold and damp, but had to go back to Sheila when she called – a passing bird had blessed her on the collar of her fleece, and some energetic scrubbing with wet kitchen towel was required to clean it off.
A bit later, whilst she was below taking a short break, we went through the Alvecote base of Canaltime, with the usual scrum of boats all over the cut. Also much in evidence were the Narrowcraft private boats that they sell there. These are built in Poland to a standard design and shipped over, and they make a very economical, but basic boat.
Just beyond Alvecote is a stretch of restructured land – the relic of the coal field which used to generate so much traffic for the canal in the first half of the 20th century. It's characterised by occasional narrows – at one of these Sheila saw a boat coming in the opposite direction, but she was clearly nearer the restriction, so held her course.
Unfortunately, the guy on the other boat didn't see it like that, and made no attempt to slow down, such that, as Sanity emerged through the narrows, he hit her bow a resounding clang and forced us over into the offside hedge, scratching our paintwork.
"So sorry," he said as he went past, "That was my fault." (!) Narrowboating may be a contact sport, but you are supposed to try to avoid each other. Note that the other boat was not some tyro hire boater, but a privateer in a smart, not to say shiny, boat.
Polesworth was duly passed through; no need to stop on this occasion, as we'd stocked up so thoroughly at Fazeley. By 12.30 we'd worked up the first two Atherstone Locks, and moored in the long pound that comes between those and the rest of the flight.
After lunch, the weather having improved a bit, Sheila cut some more wood, and we cleaned the outside of the boat a bit – she'd got quite manky with bird poo and the like over the past few days, so it's nice to see her looking a bit smarter again. Soon we'll have to do a serious job of shampooing and polishing her ready for the shows.
With some serious boating in prospect, we made a prompt start yesterday, and had arrived at Fradley Junction by 9.45. It was my turn to steer, so Sheila took the bike out and used it all the way to Fradley. This enabled her to note that, despite the reassurances when we reported it the other day, the rabbit hole in the towpath below Common Lock had not been filled in, and indeed is now big enough to take the whole of the front of your foot. This will be bad luck for the jogger who catches their toes in it.
The junction was in its usual mood of merry chaos, especially as, being a Friday, all the OwnerShips boats were turning round. We pulled round onto the Coventry Canal water point, and took a phone call from Will Chapman. We'd used their address for Sheila to order some crochet cotton for her current order, and it hadn't turned up until yesterday.
Will, being one of the best, drove over to Fradley with it and delivered it before we'd finished packing away the water hose. Then it was onwards, with that still present sense of adventure we get at the start of each year's cruising.
We decided to make it to the shopping mooring at Fazeley in time to do our main shop for the week at Sainsbury's, so chose to eat lunch on the move. This meant that Sheila was on the tiller as we went through Whittington, where she got to see the first ducklings of the year, looking very new and like little furry bath toys.
We got to Fazeley by two, and went straight to Sainsbury's – the cupboards had got quite run down during the week at Alrewas with access only to a small Co-op for our groceries, so we had two good day sacks full of stuff, as well as a shopping bag in each hand for each of us.
Sheila then improved the shining hour still further by cutting some wood with the new blade in the bow saw, in view of the weather forecast, which predicts a brief return to wintry weather over the weekend.
It's no more than you can expect in April, after all, hence the saying "Ne'er cast a clout 'til may be out". This doesn't mean 'don't throw away dishcloths until the end of May', but rather don't put your winter woollies away until you see the hawthorn (or may) in bloom. Since hawthorn is sensitive to average daytime temperatures, this is one of those old saws that actually works. We won't be getting the shorts and t-shirts out for a bit.
Nonetheless, it's good to see some warm sun from time to time, and to be able to sleep at night with the Houdini open over the bed.
We made an even prompter start this morning – we wanted to get up Glascote Locks before the Saturday rush, recalling our experience there last autumn, when they were filling so slowly. We were away before eight, stopping briefly at Fazeley services to off load the recycling, then Sheila boated slowly on whilst I popped into the Tesco Express to buy a paper, catching up with her on the visitor moorings just on the Glascote side of the junction.
This did mean we were passed by a guy single handing a bright yellow boat, but when we got to Glascote he was just setting the lock, and indeed, with a little help from me, worked up the two very efficiently.
When we left the top lock, we found that the offside top paddle wouldn't wind down. Sheila drove Sanity out of the lock, and I closed it up and drew a bottom paddle. Then I lifted the offending top paddle to see if that would flush through whatever was blocking it, but no joy.
Having dropped the bottom paddle again, I rejoined the boat, and once we were underway, called the BW emergency line to report the problem. Must say they were very efficient, and the inspector called me back within ten minutes to cross check the message. He said that it was probably a car tyre sticking in the mouth of the paddle culvert, and that "the lads" would be straight out to sort it.
I then settled below, the weather having turned quite cold and damp, but had to go back to Sheila when she called – a passing bird had blessed her on the collar of her fleece, and some energetic scrubbing with wet kitchen towel was required to clean it off.
A bit later, whilst she was below taking a short break, we went through the Alvecote base of Canaltime, with the usual scrum of boats all over the cut. Also much in evidence were the Narrowcraft private boats that they sell there. These are built in Poland to a standard design and shipped over, and they make a very economical, but basic boat.
Just beyond Alvecote is a stretch of restructured land – the relic of the coal field which used to generate so much traffic for the canal in the first half of the 20th century. It's characterised by occasional narrows – at one of these Sheila saw a boat coming in the opposite direction, but she was clearly nearer the restriction, so held her course.
Unfortunately, the guy on the other boat didn't see it like that, and made no attempt to slow down, such that, as Sanity emerged through the narrows, he hit her bow a resounding clang and forced us over into the offside hedge, scratching our paintwork.
"So sorry," he said as he went past, "That was my fault." (!) Narrowboating may be a contact sport, but you are supposed to try to avoid each other. Note that the other boat was not some tyro hire boater, but a privateer in a smart, not to say shiny, boat.
Polesworth was duly passed through; no need to stop on this occasion, as we'd stocked up so thoroughly at Fazeley. By 12.30 we'd worked up the first two Atherstone Locks, and moored in the long pound that comes between those and the rest of the flight.
After lunch, the weather having improved a bit, Sheila cut some more wood, and we cleaned the outside of the boat a bit – she'd got quite manky with bird poo and the like over the past few days, so it's nice to see her looking a bit smarter again. Soon we'll have to do a serious job of shampooing and polishing her ready for the shows.
Labels:
Atherstone,
Fazeley,
Fradley,
Glascote
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Final stuff in Alrewas
2nd & 3rd April
Yesterday was a day for a very leisurely start, as we actually didn't have any commitments at all, but on the other hand, couldn't go anywhere because Sheila was seeing the physio today.
We needed to back onto the water point to fill the tank, and the night before I had had trouble lighting the fire in the Squirrel, so we wanted to check that the flue was clear.
Since when we finally emerged into the daylight there was a Canaltime on the water point, we started by peering down the chimney of the (unlit) stove. It wasn't too bad, in fact, but I took the baffle plate out from the firebox, and we deployed the boathook in chimney-scraping mode to knock what soot there was down into the grate.
Then I cleaned it all out and left it ready to relight. By this time the Canaltime was just moving off, so we started up and I backed Sanity through the bridge to water.
When we'd finished, we discovered that a boat, which had been tied rather awkwardly on the bend in front of our original mooring, had pulled forward to tie where we had been, so we settled for coming just through the bridge and mooring again.
The final job for the day was shopping for meat at Peter Coates – supplies of mince, stewing steak and chicken fillets were duly obtained, and packed into the freezer.
The new mooring, although less than 100 feet from the old one, didn't have such a good internet connection, and in fact it proceeded to give me a bit of gyp. I think the problem was that the modem was swithering between two alternate signals, one 3G and the other GPRS. It kept switching from one to t'other in mid download, getting the laptop confused and then falling over.
In the end I had to restart everything, and after that it more or less behaved itself.
After lunch it began to cool down rather, so I relit the fire with very little trouble. The rest of the day passed with doing stuff on the net and running a washload now that we had a full water tank again.
In the evening Elanor turned up with some new bow saw blades she had found for us – suddenly what had been the standard length of 24 inches has become hard to get. She'd run some to earth in Wickes, though, and brought us a couple, which should see us through to the warmer weather.
Today was another easy start, as Sheila's appointment wasn't until 11 o'clock. She went off to it leaving me pottering in the boat, dealing with emails, mostly, and lighting the fire with just a little bit of hassle. The real problem seems to be that all the wood we have left at the moment is rather green, and so reluctant to light. It's necessary to light the PureHeat ovals directly, which is never as easy as starting with sticks.
But I got it going in the end, whereupon the weather warmed up and we had to open the bow doors after a bit.
Sheila came back from the physio with good news – it's not arthritis in her shoulders, but subacromial impingement, a soft tissue problem which should be amenable to treatment.
After lunch I trolled round to Will Chapman's house, and we had a couple of hours looking at the stuff which needs to be done to generate the next round of SOW literature.
A veggie curry tonight, I think, then tomorrow we are away on the first stage of our summer cruise.
Yesterday was a day for a very leisurely start, as we actually didn't have any commitments at all, but on the other hand, couldn't go anywhere because Sheila was seeing the physio today.
We needed to back onto the water point to fill the tank, and the night before I had had trouble lighting the fire in the Squirrel, so we wanted to check that the flue was clear.
Since when we finally emerged into the daylight there was a Canaltime on the water point, we started by peering down the chimney of the (unlit) stove. It wasn't too bad, in fact, but I took the baffle plate out from the firebox, and we deployed the boathook in chimney-scraping mode to knock what soot there was down into the grate.
Then I cleaned it all out and left it ready to relight. By this time the Canaltime was just moving off, so we started up and I backed Sanity through the bridge to water.
When we'd finished, we discovered that a boat, which had been tied rather awkwardly on the bend in front of our original mooring, had pulled forward to tie where we had been, so we settled for coming just through the bridge and mooring again.
The final job for the day was shopping for meat at Peter Coates – supplies of mince, stewing steak and chicken fillets were duly obtained, and packed into the freezer.
The new mooring, although less than 100 feet from the old one, didn't have such a good internet connection, and in fact it proceeded to give me a bit of gyp. I think the problem was that the modem was swithering between two alternate signals, one 3G and the other GPRS. It kept switching from one to t'other in mid download, getting the laptop confused and then falling over.
In the end I had to restart everything, and after that it more or less behaved itself.
After lunch it began to cool down rather, so I relit the fire with very little trouble. The rest of the day passed with doing stuff on the net and running a washload now that we had a full water tank again.
In the evening Elanor turned up with some new bow saw blades she had found for us – suddenly what had been the standard length of 24 inches has become hard to get. She'd run some to earth in Wickes, though, and brought us a couple, which should see us through to the warmer weather.
Today was another easy start, as Sheila's appointment wasn't until 11 o'clock. She went off to it leaving me pottering in the boat, dealing with emails, mostly, and lighting the fire with just a little bit of hassle. The real problem seems to be that all the wood we have left at the moment is rather green, and so reluctant to light. It's necessary to light the PureHeat ovals directly, which is never as easy as starting with sticks.
But I got it going in the end, whereupon the weather warmed up and we had to open the bow doors after a bit.
Sheila came back from the physio with good news – it's not arthritis in her shoulders, but subacromial impingement, a soft tissue problem which should be amenable to treatment.
After lunch I trolled round to Will Chapman's house, and we had a couple of hours looking at the stuff which needs to be done to generate the next round of SOW literature.
A veggie curry tonight, I think, then tomorrow we are away on the first stage of our summer cruise.
Labels:
Alrewas
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
More doctors and dentists, then a walk
31st March & 1st April
Note: this blog does not perpetrate April Fool deceptions!
With hindsight, booking appointments for the GP at 8.30 and 8.40 the day after the hour went on the clocks (Spring forward and all that) might have been a mistake.
Getting up in good time felt like it was the middle of the night, but we made it, and tottered round to the surgery for our medical encounters. All was well for both of us, so one more task completed.
We ambled back to the boat via the pharmacy and Co-op and rather collapsed for a bit (well, we're not as young as we used to be). One of the greatest joys of being retired and boating is this variation in the hour of rising. It's not that we can't be up and about early, just that we don't have to be every weekday morning.
Since my ankle is nearly back to normal, and with the prospect of the first Willy Walk for three weeks for me today, we decided to check out my mobility by going for a gentle stroll.
We got as far as Fradley Junction, using the towpath both ways, without too much trouble, which was reassuring. On the way, we spotted a large rabbit hole smack in the middle of the towpath, about 230 yards below Common Lock. Feeling public spirited, we called in at the BW place at Fradley and reported it.
Before going back, we took a wander round the Nature Park that they've made out of one of the reservoirs. It's a neat job and though we didn't see anything unusual – the scarcest bird was a tufted duck - it was very pleasant nonetheless.
Back at the boat, we had lunch, then tried sitting out on the towpath in the sun, but it was just a little too chilly in the fresh wind.
Elanor looked in on her way back from work, having survived her first day back after her fortnight's holiday.
Today we were able to make a more relaxed start, since my appointment at the dentist for phase 2 of having a crown fitted wasn't until 10.20. There was plenty of time to catch up with emails. I've agreed to stand for the Save Our Waterways committee, so I'm presently seeing all the emails with regard to the Inaugural meeting.
This will be held at 11.00 am on 10 April at Stafford Boat Club – details here.
My trip to the dentist was straightforward, and I was able to join the Willy Walkers at 10.45 with no problem, beyond that sensation that you've got something stuck on a tooth that comes with having a new crown. I suppose it's basically because you have.
It was a good walk along the Trent, and a merry session in the pub afterwards. Back at the boat by mid afternoon, we were both a victim of the well known health hazard associated the Mr Wilson's Captains' Chairs, and dozed off for some time.
Tomorrow is a day for trying to get things sorted like restocking the freezer with meat from the excellent butchers here and backing Sanity through the bridgehole to the water point. Then Sheila has a physio appointment on Thursday, and with luck we will be away heading for points south on Friday.
Note: this blog does not perpetrate April Fool deceptions!
With hindsight, booking appointments for the GP at 8.30 and 8.40 the day after the hour went on the clocks (Spring forward and all that) might have been a mistake.
Getting up in good time felt like it was the middle of the night, but we made it, and tottered round to the surgery for our medical encounters. All was well for both of us, so one more task completed.
We ambled back to the boat via the pharmacy and Co-op and rather collapsed for a bit (well, we're not as young as we used to be). One of the greatest joys of being retired and boating is this variation in the hour of rising. It's not that we can't be up and about early, just that we don't have to be every weekday morning.
Since my ankle is nearly back to normal, and with the prospect of the first Willy Walk for three weeks for me today, we decided to check out my mobility by going for a gentle stroll.
We got as far as Fradley Junction, using the towpath both ways, without too much trouble, which was reassuring. On the way, we spotted a large rabbit hole smack in the middle of the towpath, about 230 yards below Common Lock. Feeling public spirited, we called in at the BW place at Fradley and reported it.
Before going back, we took a wander round the Nature Park that they've made out of one of the reservoirs. It's a neat job and though we didn't see anything unusual – the scarcest bird was a tufted duck - it was very pleasant nonetheless.
Back at the boat, we had lunch, then tried sitting out on the towpath in the sun, but it was just a little too chilly in the fresh wind.
Elanor looked in on her way back from work, having survived her first day back after her fortnight's holiday.
Today we were able to make a more relaxed start, since my appointment at the dentist for phase 2 of having a crown fitted wasn't until 10.20. There was plenty of time to catch up with emails. I've agreed to stand for the Save Our Waterways committee, so I'm presently seeing all the emails with regard to the Inaugural meeting.
This will be held at 11.00 am on 10 April at Stafford Boat Club – details here.
My trip to the dentist was straightforward, and I was able to join the Willy Walkers at 10.45 with no problem, beyond that sensation that you've got something stuck on a tooth that comes with having a new crown. I suppose it's basically because you have.
It was a good walk along the Trent, and a merry session in the pub afterwards. Back at the boat by mid afternoon, we were both a victim of the well known health hazard associated the Mr Wilson's Captains' Chairs, and dozed off for some time.
Tomorrow is a day for trying to get things sorted like restocking the freezer with meat from the excellent butchers here and backing Sanity through the bridgehole to the water point. Then Sheila has a physio appointment on Thursday, and with luck we will be away heading for points south on Friday.
Labels:
Alrewas
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